Stevens, John

Stevens, John

(born 1749, New York, N.Y.—died March 6, 1838, Hoboken, N.J., U.S.) U.S. lawyer, engineer, and inventor. He served as a colonel in the American Revolution. To protect his boiler and engine designs, he submitted his outline for a patent law; the resulting Patent Law of 1790 formed the basis of the U.S. patent system. In 1802 he became the first person to employ a powered screw to propel a ship. In 1809 his steamship Phoenix became the world's first seagoing steamboat. In Philadelphia in 1811 he inaugurated the world's first steam-ferry service. In 1825 he built the first American steam locomotive. He developed his New Jersey estate into the city of Hoboken. He was the father of Robert L. Stevens. Another son, Edwin Augustus Stevens (1795–1868), was the inventor of the Stevens plow and a pioneer builder of ironclad warships and established the Stevens Institute of Technology by a bequest. A third son, John Cox Stevens (1785–1857), headed the group that sent the yacht America to Britain, where it won the race that established the America's Cup.